All change at the Bank of England
Will £480k Carney successor be first woman of Threadneedle Street?
THE hunt is on for a new Governor of the Bank of England to replace Mark Carney.
Chancellor Philip Hammond yesterday kicked off the search for the 121st head of Britain’s central bank to succeed the Canadian when he leaves at the end of January.
The move sparked speculation that the Government could hire another foreigner to the £480,000 a year job – or a woman.
Mr Carney, 54, became the first foreign Governor in July 2013. But there has not been a female Governor in the Bank’s 325year history. Names in the frame include Raghuram Rajan, a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and Baroness Vadera, a minister under Gordon Brown during the financial crisis.
Others linked with the job are current deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe, and Andrew Bailey, head of the Financial Conduct Authority, the City watchdog.
Mr Hammond wants a Governor with an international reputation for one of the most powerful jobs in UK public life.
The Bank Governor oversees the setting of interest rates and regulates the City of London, one of the world’s leading financial centres.
Speaking to MPs on the Treasury select committee yesterday, the Chancellor said he was looking for a candidate ‘of the highest calibre’ who could serve a full eight-year term. ‘The Governor of the Bank of England plays a very significant role in the international discussions between central bank governors and it is very much in our interests we have someone recognised and respected at the highest levels of the international central bank circuit,’ he said.
Of the contenders, Mr Rajan served as chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. The 56-year-old, now based in Chicago, is a highly respected economist who warned of a financial crisis as early as 2005.
Other overseas candidates include Agustin Carstens, the Mexican-born general manager of the Swiss-based Bank for International Settlements. He is a former finance minister and central bank governor of Mexico. A number of women have also been touted, including Baroness Vadera, who was a minister under Gordon Brown during the financial crisis and is now chairman of the UK arm of Santander.
Others said to be in the frame are Dame Minouche Shafik, the Egyptian-born director of the London School of Economics who was deputy governor at the Bank from 2014 to 2017, and Ofcom chief executive Sharon White, a former high-flying civil servant at the Treasury.
Janet Yellen, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, the mighty US central bank, has also been mentioned along with IMF managing director Christine Lagarde.
But the early favourites also include a number of ‘insiders’. Mr Bailey is a former deputy governor at the Bank who took over as chief executive of the FCA in 2016.
Before joining the Bank in 2013, Sir Jon was the UK’s ambassador to the European Union. Sir Jon’s fellow deputy governors Ben Broadbent and Dave Ramsden and the Bank’s chief economist Andy Haldane are also thought to be in the running.
For the first time, the government has hired a specialist headhunter, Sapphire Partners, to help with the search.
The Treasury expects to hold interviews over the summer ahead of an autumn appointment.
The £480,000 salary is the same as for Mr Carney, who also received a £250,000 a year housing allowance.